Hong Kong's Ng Siu- ching did not become world wushu champion overnight.
In fact, she has spent 20 of her 28 years scaling the heights in her chosen sport.
Ng's first teacher was her father, who coached her from humble beginnings on the mainland. But it was a martial arts apprenticeship which would eventually see her achieve stardom at the last world championships (1995) in Baltimore in the United States.
It was there she reached the pinnacle of her 'art', winning gold medals in the nanquan and spear events.
Like any athlete aiming for peak performance, Ng has made many sacrifices.
'I started practising wushu when I was just four-years-old,' said Ng, who won a bronze medal in nanquan at the China National Games last month and gold in that event at the East Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea, last summer.
'When I was very young, we still had to work hard. I would get up and start training between 5.30 am and 7 am on a typical day. After school, I would spend another two hours training - from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm.' In those days, studying the ancient art of wushu was part of the curriculum at the Guangdong primary school she attended.
